Updated 12:25 am, Sunday, January 20, 2013

The Nighthawks matched zeroes with the Indians for the first 13 minutes until Milford was able to close out the period with two goals by captain Zach White.

Newtown coach Paul Esposito said it was a tough pill to swallow just before intermission.

"It took the momentum away from us heading into the break," he said.

"It deflated the tires a little bit."

Especially White's second tally. Ben Lavallee sent a beautiful cross-ice pass to White, who finished the play for the 2-0 lead.

"That second goal from Lavallee to Zach was just an unbelievable goal," Milford coach Sal Follo said. "You see that in the NHL, that was so good."

The Indians defense and the stellar play of DePalma was the story for Milford. DePalma stopped all 19 Nighthawks shots that came his way as Milford tacked on goals in the second and third periods to preserve the victory.

"They did a great job keeping the pucks away from the net," Esposito said. "We only had like two shots there in the second period. We just didn't do a good job at getting pucks to the net today, which was one of our weaknesses."

Follo spoke glowingly of his team's defensive effort.

"Our goalie (DePalma) played well and our defense just did an outstanding job in front of him," he said. "Ben Lavallee, our captain, was just flawless and you need that, someone else steps up and does the job for the team."

Follo said the score was not indicative of Esposito's coaching and the players Newtown has.

"Paul does a great job for Newtown being prepared," he said.

"And with the tragedy and stuff like that we really needed to be ready to go to play them."

NOTES: Before the game, the Milford captains announced they were dedicating the game to Newtown in honor of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy. Milford captains Lavallee, White and Gerald Villecco skated past the Newtown bench before the game, shaking hands with each of the Nighthawks.